


Do You See Me?

by ColonelPurplePotatoes



Series: Shards of Ice and Broken Dreams [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Light Angst, M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 12:43:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18894883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColonelPurplePotatoes/pseuds/ColonelPurplePotatoes
Summary: Tony knows Steve doesn't like him. Everyone knows Steve doesn't like him. But that doesnt mean the dislike is mutual.





	Do You See Me?

Tony Stark is more like Iron Man than he'd like to admit. Well, technically he _is_ Iron Man, but what he means is he's more like the _idea_ behind the armor.

For a long time, Tony crafted his image. Playboy billionaire, doesn't give a shit about others, does what he wants, says what he wants, blah blah blah... Before Iron Man, that was the only armor he had. It stopped people getting too close, too handsy, and too able to see his cracks.

Contrary to popular belief, Tony isn't actually like that. Well, he is, but he's also not? Sometimes when he thinks about this his head spins, but it's true.

Iron Man stands for something. Justice. Freedom. Whatever. Not in a Captain Spangles, _God Bless America_ type way, but in his own way. Iron Man is a symbol of good. He's a symbol of putting others before oneself, something no one would associate with Tony Stark.

But of course, the man in the suit _is_ Tony, so everything the suit does is Tony's doing. All that do-gooder-ness. All that heroism. People see it as Iron Man, but really it's Tony.

He doesn't particularly want to be seen as a do-gooder hero type. He'll leave the red, white and blue to Steve, perfect Steve with his perfect face and his perfect hair and Christ, that perfect body. Perfect Steve, for whom Tony is not good enough. It would be obvious even to a rock that Steve isn't interested. As soon as that Cap suit comes off, Steve is gone, putting as much enough distance between the two of them as possible.

Well, whatever. It's his loss. Would be if he even wanted it, that is. If Steve Rogers can't figure out what Tony's really about, he doesn't deserve Tony.

So Tony tells himself. If he could start believing it, that might make Steve's blunt silence easier to live with. Maybe one day Steve will see that Tony is more like Iron Man than it seems.

Maybe.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on Tumblr - colonelpurplepotatoes.tumblr.com


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